Question

Which quotation from the essay helps to create the humorous tone in "Here is New York"? Responses “The commuter is the queerest bird of all. The suburb he inhabits has no essential vitality of its own and is a mere roost where he comes at day’s end to go to sleep.” “The commuter is the queerest bird of all. The suburb he inhabits has no essential vitality of its own and is a mere roost where he comes at day’s end to go to sleep.” “Not many among them have ever spent a drowsy afternoon in the great rustling oaken silence of the reading room of the Public Library, with the book elevator (like an old water wheel) spewing out books onto the trays.” “Not many among them have ever spent a drowsy afternoon in the great rustling oaken silence of the reading room of the Public Library, with the book elevator (like an old water wheel) spewing out books onto the trays.” “He is desk-bound, and has never, idly roaming in the gloaming, stumbled suddenly on Belvedere Tower in the Park, see the ramparts rise sheer from the water of the pond,…” “He is desk-bound, and has never, idly roaming in the gloaming, stumbled suddenly on Belvedere Tower in the Park, see the ramparts rise sheer from the water of the pond,…” “…it makes no difference: each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love, each absorbs New York with the fresh yes of an adventurer,…” “…it makes no difference: each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love, each absorbs New York with the fresh yes of an adventurer,…”

Answer 1

“The commuter is the queerest bird of all. The suburb he inhabits has no essential vitality of its own and is a mere roost where he comes at day’s end to go to sleep.”

Figurative language is frequently used to for the sake of humor. As you may know, when figurative language is used (as opposed to literal language) we are to take what is said to mean as something other than what it is generally understood to mean, and of the four possible responses, only the last response contains figurative language. For instance, “queerest bird” is used in reference to a commuter, and “roost”—a word typically reserved when referencing birds’ sleep—is used in reference to human sleep. This comparison paints a funny picture and certainly provides an element of humor for the article.